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Society

The role of science and technology in society has never been so important as it is today. Science and technology are directly related to social and economic development. This is why it is so important for individuals to be able to understand and value the key role that scientific development plays in our society. nanoGUNE aims at spreading a scientific culture, in order to inspire a critical society, capable of building a future in a sustainable and intelligent manner.

So, let's start from the very beginning... what is nanoscience? Nanoscience is the science done in a very small scale: the nanoscale. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. On the nanoscale, ranging from 0.1 to 100 nanometers (from the atomic radius to the wavelength of far-ultraviolet light), the basic constituents of matter are found, including the most primitive biological structures: the DNA, the ribosome, and the virus. But it is not just the size that matters. The behavior of matter in this scale is very special. The objects that we find in this scale are typically larger than a single atom (we could have a good number of atoms and molecules), yet at the same time they are small enough for their properties to be significantly different from those properties found in the micro and macro scales. Furthermore, physics and chemistry are often no longer distinguishable on this scale and classical disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology, and materials engineering converge giving rise to this new discipline: Nanoscience.

The Secretary of State for R&D+i, Carmen Vela, chaired the kickoff meeting of the new Severo Ochoa and Maria Maeztu Alliance of Excellence. The alliance’s target is to internationally promote and strengthen the centres and units accredited with this distinction, to give their research a higher profile.

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